Patch 5.4 - Tier 16 Rogue Armor Set Preview
Keep in mind that this is just a preview, and the final set may be different.

Warcraft Movie Teaser at Comic-Con
Fans that were at Comic-Con this weekend got a treat in the form of a Warcraft movie teaser. It was a short clip that featured a human in the desert with a sword who comes across the skeleton of a solider. He takes a drink and then picks up the shield, which has the Alliance insignia on it. An orc then shows up and charges the human, with the clip ending there.

Duncan Jones also mentioned that filming would begin early next year, so this was just a test shot for Comic-Con. Unfortunately, no recordings have shown up yet, and there are no plans to release the footage...

Blue Tweets

Originally Posted by Blizzard Entertainment

ClassesDo you ever get worried about classes being too similar or blurring the lines between what makes every class unique?
Constantly! It's one of the hardest problems for us to solve b/c nobody wants to feel weak in the name of class differentiation. (Source)

Can you explain the move back to mana regen scaling with spi/gear? MoP took away mana regen scaling with int, why this then?
The problem with Int was it provided two bonuses for one stat. Spirit is only regen. It comes at the expense of other stats. (Source

Healing is becoming a spam/dps like activity instead of making choices. Changes coming next expansion? Water cooler topic?
It often comes down to mana IMO. The challenge is we get a lot of pressure to buff regen instead of healers having to make choices. (Source)
As I've said before, the encounters are balanced around class output, not vice versa. (Source)
But when someone struggles with a fight, the inclination is to ask for class buffs. (Source)

in fact correct me if i'm wrong GC but didn't you say people have too many buttons to push already?
I highly suspect DS is already on your action bar. It's more about how big those action bars are. (Source)
Not sure it's a triumph of game design that players feel like they need 4+ bars to bind all of their abilities. (Source)

with the constant nerfs to prep/readiness/alter time, maybe it's time you stopped putting cd reset abilities into the game
We agree. I'm not sure that design angle has payed out well. (Source)

That is because you design encounters that though out tons of AoE damage. You can't single target heal that.
We actually balance the encounters around the AE healing that groups can do. If we nerfed healing, the other would follow. (Source)How about speeding up ST cast time comparatively? So fast ST heals win for 2 targets but AE output wins for 4?
There is logic in that approach since one of the benefits of AEs is the GCD savings. (Source)
To continue, we don't want every paladin playing like a Resto druid, and honestly neither should you paladins. EF shouldn't be mandatory. (Source)so if you dont want us blanketing the raid with hots and shields. Give us back burst healing. What exactly is our "niche"
What do you think you are missing for burst healing? (Source)stronger LoD/increased target cap would lead to less EF usage. 3 hp LoD is less effective than 1 hp EF.
But does it lead to priests, monks and druids wanting their AE heals uncapped as well b/c now they're left out? (Source)Sanctuary should be getting the HR treatment; 12(?) cap in 25's. 1-2k ticks with 25 ppl in it is sad.
It is extremely unlikely we will change the cap for any other heal as we did for Healing Rain unless it is a raid CD. (Source)

Why compare one boring bonus to another?
T16 at least requires you to do something. The T15 could have said "You do 5% more damage." (Source)

why have sheilds become the new version of HoTs, in every situation a sheild will be the better option then any type of HoT.
That has always been the case and isn't a design problem. The shields have become too cheap and easy to apply though. (Source)

Now that we're approaching the end of MoP. What class/classes do you think need a big overhaul in 6.0?
None. We will likely work to make the 3 hunter and rogue specs play a little more differently from each other. (Source)

Druid (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator)Any insight on what you may be doing with Glyph of Efflorescence? Haven't seen it in any builds and it isn't marked NYI.
Not sure yet, but we'd like to try it on the PTR at least. (Source)

Hunter (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator)since u nerfed sp survival so much and disperse can be locked is it possible to fix the activation lag&make it work like block
Not sure why there should be unusual lag. Usually that comes from procs. Can look at it though. (Source)

Stampede buff was a PVE compensation for Readiness removal. Where are the buffs making Hunters coequal to Mages, Wls, Rogues?
We haven't done 5.4 tuning yet. In 5.3 we think mages and locks were often too high. (Source)

Just wondering what plans are there to rework hunters BEFORE 5.4, taking readiness away is big, signature shots are quite meh.
In PvE, Readiness just makes opening rotations needlessly complex IMO. Not convinced there is a ton of depth or skill there. (Source)

3m Deterrence w/2 charges is worse than 2m w/Readiness. This is a big nerf to PVE AND PVP survivability. Intended?
It's 2 every 3 min rather than 1 every 2 min with 2 every 2 min once every 5 min. If that makes sense.... (Source)

Could you please clarify on the deterrence change? Is it generating a charge every 1:30 or one every 3:00 etc?
ATM (which could change) we increased the cooldown and added charges. Works just like Roll or DK runes charging. (Source)

Mage (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator)As a Fire mage -and only when playing Fire- I feel like I need the PoM talent. Will this be "fixed" (if you think it should)?
No promises, but I wish there was room for instant Pyros (Fire?) and say PoM poly (talent?). (Source)

why make PoM unaffected by AT? I am assuming it is a pvp change. If that is the case you need to find a new way to balance.
We fear Alter Time makes PoM a mandatory talent for Fire. We're not 100% sold on the change though TBH. (Source)

it fair to assume that mages are considered in a good place? I notice they're rarely rebalanced or have talent changes.
Still working on Frost mastery and making sure we don't nerf undergeared Fire mages because of overgeared Fire mages. (Source)Overgeared. Is something that should NEVER be said in current content. If that's the case, it's a #designflaw
It was shorthand. Heroic raid balance obviously matters, but very few players have that gear so it's not fair to nerf all. (Source)

Monk (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator)Been meaning to ask. When a Brewmaster Tiger palms there is a gcd delay before the buff to Guard is active. Is that intended?
Procs are sometimes slow. We might be able to rebuild it. (Source)

what are your feelings and opinions/hopes on the ww mastery changes? Anything to compensate for dps loss?
Yes, we will compensate for the DPS loss. We don't want a trinket to be a 15% DPS gain though. (Source)

Paladin (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator)Plz allow Holy Pallies to judge friendly targets - will at least make SH more viable
Just so you don't have to switch targets? It's weird to Judge an ally, unless it healed them, which is a bigger change. (Source)

SoB is explicitly scaling with melee haste. In practice, spell haste will always be higher for us.
But the point was to make it scale, which it does. Making it use spell haste is just a buff on top of that. (Source)

Divine Plea doesn't return enough mana if it doesn't include short duration bonuses. I don't know how much pure spirit u want
Nobody's mana return should scale with trinket procs. I don't think you'd really want this overall. (Source)
Any time you didn't game the procs like a pro, your mana would suffer a lot. (Source)I read that as "if you didn't game the procs like a pro, your mama would suffer a lot"
I like that one better. (Source)

Saw a change where Crusader Strike applies Weakened Blows. HotR going away, CS going away or incomplete change? Or wrong data?
Both apply WB. We originally wanted HotR to in the ST rotation rather than just being AE CS, but eventually caved. #acronyms (Source)

I know this is datamining. But Holy should have their version of Sanctity of B. tied to spell haste rather than melee haste.
The only difference really is the raid buff. If we were just trying to buff HS, we could just lower the base CD. (Source)
(By which I mean haste on gear affects SoB either way, which was the real goal.) (Source)

Datamining shows SoB affecting Holy Shock for all three pally specs. Are we all getting it or is it just a datamining thing?
We are trying it as a way to make haste a little more interesting for Holy. Too early to say if it will be an official change. (Source)

Unless this glyph becomes a buff to DP, there is nothing with new DP to motivate glyphing the spell. Delete it.
The Glyph of Divine Plea will have to be redesigned. Considering a glyph to cut CD and mana returned by 50%. (Source)

EF is simply easier to use and more effective, SS and SH both require maintenance without worthwhile benefit.
Yep. Which is why we're nerfing it. The synergy with mastery is just way too good given its other bonuses. (Source)
The periodic of Eternal Flame still should not proc Holy paladin mastery on PTR. If it is, that is a bug. (Source)Just give up on Holy Paladins already. Everyone else with any sense has. #nofun #neverwillbe
If we had done that every times players asked, I think we'd have one spec left in the game. Maybe. (Source)Well paladins are pretty useless at this point. No point in bringing them.
They are the most common healer in 25 and second to Disc in 10s. Clearly someone is bringing them. (Source)
Maybe the EF nerf sends them from hero to zero but I sort of doubt it. (Source)

This point is simply because EF can handle mutliple targets at once. SS and SH are single-target abilities.
We could make EF limit one again but I don't think that would be very fun. (Source)

If you dont want EF to be so "mandatory" why not buff Sacred Shield so it looks more attractive?
We'd like to. What do you feel it needs to compete? (Source)SS is already verging towards OP for Protection, It's haste scaling is a big part of why prot stacks haste,
it's possible to buff SS for Holy without making it even better for Prot though. (Source)

Small throughput buffs are not what paladins need. We need a rework. Mastery is the only thing making us look competitive.
TBH, we hear this too often from every class in the game. The paladin healing toolkit is mostly fine. EF is a crutch. (Source)
Now paladins aren't perfect. No class is. But they aren't horribly off the rails either as the forums would have you believe. (Source)Raid testing proved how bad paladin throughput is, not the forums. 25m raid testing will prove it even further.
Is this proof somewhere we can see and analyze? (Source)

Can you give us any insight as to what the current ideas/plans are for Guardian of the Ancients Kings (Holy)?
We want it to key off of AE heals in addition to ST heals. Less use these days in that much ST healing on one target. (Source)

can you clarify new selfless healer change? Judgment already gives a HP for all specs. With this talent will it now give 2?
Holy does not get J->HoPo baseline. With SH, they do. No change for Prot or Ret. (Source)

Crit as a possible gearing strat sounds cool. But so does a viable Glyph of Illumination.
We'd be fine buffing Illumination. It's just a short ride from there to mandatory though. (Source)

Priest (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator)To even out with an unskilled disc(are there any skilled???) using 8 Raptures, DP needs to return 1200% spirit,not 405.
Rapture isn't really a mana return mechanic. It's a way of getting PW:S cost from cooldown level to rotation level. (Source)
Honestly, can't imagine any raiding classes running OOM regularly these days unless they (or their groups) are doing something odd. (Source)
It's very hard to just look at mana %s and make class comparisons. Time to zero mana under a variety of scenarios is more relevant. (Source)Then please compare how other healers drop spirit. MW Monks running 7k spirit and finish 100% mana is broken.
We agree that MW and Disc are eschewing Spirit (at high ilevels) that other healers can't afford to do. (Source)

Is Glyph of Dark Binding being replaced with Focused Mending? That's how it currently is on the PTR.
Dark Binding benefit is getting baked in. (Source)

Will we see any disc nerfs at any point? Or do you see them as being balanced right now (lol)
We don't think the shields, CDs or Atonement are OP alone. The package makes them very versatile. (Source)

Rogue (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator)GoAR has been replaced with GoRedirect in recent PTR build. Will the GCD reduction be baselined or removed?
Yes. We baked in GoAR. (Source)

Shaman (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator) "Totemic Restoration has proven to be a problematic talent, and we’re considering replacing it in 5.4" Any updates?
Still the plan. (Source)

Every resto shaman uses HTT, make it baseline. Every holy paladin uses EF, nerf it!
The difference is we think healing totems fit the shaman kit. We do not think hots fit the paladin kit. (Source)
If some paladins take EF, then that's cool. That's character differentiation. When they all have it, that's homogenization. (Source)I repeat, "Every resto shaman uses HTT, make it baseline. Every holy paladin uses EF, nerf it!" Same thing, different result.
I repeat: We want every shaman to use totems. We do not want every paladin to use hots. (Source)

Purification once again increases healing done by all water totems. 5.4 notes, I dont understand this one, nothing changed?
Originally we wanted to make HTT less mandatory by having it not do bonus healing for Resto. Concluded that would never work. (Source)

Warlock (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator)what brought about the many changes to aff (love them btw)? low pvp rep, considering past seasons?
PvP was part of it but overall we were concerned everything was too dependent on MG. Cool spell but a bit too dominant. (Source)

is the new soul link 3% of your dmg split between pet/caster (1.5% each) or 3% on both pet/caster (6% dmg to healing total)
6% total. (Source)

How about making slam consume TFB stacks like OP? That would help arms not have to spam OP all the time.
But what do you then cast if you want to get the stacks to stack instead of consuming them? Heroic Strike? (Source)

Any buffs for Arms? Lowest dps spec in the game by a very large marging and under performs in pvp
You are comparing 22k Fury parses with 800 Arms parses. Fury might beat Arms, but you can't compare those means. (Source)

MMO-Champion Forums Moderator Recruitment
Good news everyone! We're recruiting moderators for the forums again! The amount of users and posts keeps increasing and we reached the point where we need some help before the trolls take over and play Whack-a-Mod in the Darkmoon Faire. I know it sounds fun, but I'm going to assume we don't want that.

Please be sure to read the entire post before applying!

Weekly News Recap
This was a busy week, with two PTR builds, Proving Grounds, and Timeless Isle, so catch up on all the news!

I think the rogue tier looks pretty ok. It reminds me of the SWP gear. Why does MMO champ showcase them on male humans though? All sets look bad of them. They look like they are pooping their pants when they run, but even in combat.

What's with all the tier gear that has exposed heads? Even if it's only half-helms, I would think the head is a vital part of a person and I don't think I would want it standing out without any protection.

I'm so glad to be able to hide helms or transmog to something I would prefer instead of showing these helms (past and present, none of them look good if they only half cover our head).

A lot of people call rogues pussies. So Blizzard decided to give them a glowing vagina.

It's not just the rogues. Everyone's got a glowing belt of some sort, some more unfortunately placed than others.
The druid set has a glowing leaf-shaped merkin, the warrior set is just a giant arc reactor looking erection with horns.
Am I projecting? XD

Jees, is everyone going to be down on this? I really like this tier set. Kinda evokes the Bloodfang set, but with titan style. I dig it.

I think it would help if when showing these new tiers, we see them on other races. It's always Humans. I mean you can click and see more on other page but it's first impression and humans are rather ugly as a race, if I may. That presenter on the other hand.. She is very fine!

since u nerfed sp survival so much and disperse can be locked is it possible to fix the activation lag&make it work like block
Not sure why there should be unusual lag. Usually that comes from procs. Can look at it though. (Source)
is actually a priest quote but listed under hunter